One of the great qualities of Deism is that it offers people the gift of having peace of mind. It does this without making promises of eternal life or God answering your prayers. It does it by doing away with what the clergy calls faith and replacing faith with reason-based trust.
Looking objectively at what faith is, we see the unknown author of Hebrews defined faith at Hebrews 11:1, which states, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." This is irrational nonsense since substance is something physical and hope is a desire or feeling. However, some people will claim that this definition of substance does not apply to Hebrews 11:1 because substance is being used as a metaphor. This AI overview regarding hope and substance makes it clear that the metaphor defense of the verse fails. It states,
"While 'hope' is typically considered an abstract emotion, in the sense that it is not a physical object, it can be considered to have 'substance' when it is grounded in positive actions, realistic expectations, and a strong belief in the possibility of a desired outcome; essentially, when hope is not just a wish but is actively pursued through concrete steps and a firm foundation of evidence or reason."
Since Christianity lacks both evidence and reason, "substance" does not apply to the definition of "faith" at Hebrews 11:1.
The Deist Voltaire made a very important point which shows that faith is not required to realize the existence of The Supreme Intelligence/God is a reality, which negates the second half of Hebrews 11:1, that faith is evidence of things not seen. Voltaire wrote,
"What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason."
When people give up their innate reason and replace it with faith, there are no limits to the harm they can cause. This is seen in cases where parents based their actions on Bible-based faith and promises. The Christian Bible promises Christians that they will be able to do all the things the anonymous authors of the Gospels claimed Jesus did, PLUS even greater things than that! John 14:12-14 has Jesus giving this promise to Christians (those who believe in him). If this false promise was true, which it is not, all Christians would be able to walk on water, heal the sick and bring dead people back to life. Any Christian can harmlessly test this false promise by attempting to walk on water in their bathtub or pool. Parents who based their actions on this and other false, empty and ludicrous Christian Bible promises of healing the sick have actually killed their children. And Christian parents who believe in demons as taught in their Christian Bible have killed their children in exorcisms. Our beliefs are vitally important because they determine our actions.
The Deist Thomas Jefferson recognized the dangers associated with people placing importance on "faith" and the harm it causes. Jefferson wrote,
"...that man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such person, gullibility which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason, and the mind becomes a wreck."
Knowing that we, as Deists, value and use our priceless gift from The Supreme Intelligence/God of innate reason, in and of itself gives us profound peace of mind. We know that by relying on and using our innate reason we are realistically using the very best tool we have to solve our problems and to navigate life. Our God-given reason is always there waiting for us to use it. What a beautiful and wonderful gift from The Supreme Intelligence/God our innate reason is! It not only makes it possible for us to have meaningful and happy lives, but it has also been used to overcome every obstacle humanity has to date overcome. Every accomplishment and step forward from the stone-age to the space-age has been reason-based, and all current and future advancements are and will be reason-based. We really need to take the time to think about and truly appreciate the importance of our innate God-given reason and how we can make the best use of it for ourselves and for the world.
The fact that it is reason and not faith that lets us know that The Supreme Intelligence/God is a reality is seen in this quote from Antony Flew. Antony Flew was a leading Atheist for the last part of the 20th century and into the 21st century. Thankfully, in 2004 he announced that he was no longer an Atheist and that he had become a Deist. Flew stated that it was not faith that caused him to believe in The Supreme Intelligence/God, it was evidence-based reason. He said,
"My whole life has been guided by the principle of Plato's Socrates: Follow the evidence, wherever it leads."
Since faith is not a requirement to realize that The Supreme Intelligence/God exists, Deists are free of being imposed upon by charlatans who manipulate people by convincing them to turn their backs on their innate God-given reason in order to have faith-based belief in God. Deists are people of reason, not people of faith.
Deists do have deep reason-based trust in The Supreme Intelligence/God. One definition of "trust" is, "firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something." To this can be added "existence." The reason-based laws and principles science discovers in the universe, coupled with the reason-based working DNA codes that make life and evolution realities, make it clear that The Supreme Intelligence/God is a reality. As Thomas Paine pointed out in The Age of Reason,
"Man cannot make principles, he can only discover them."
Deistic trust in The Supreme Intelligence/God is based on reality, not on wishful thinking, myths and selfishness. We don't believe that by believing in The Supreme Intelligence/God we will be rewarded with material things in this life and with an eternal afterlife in heaven or paradise, as is the case with the "revealed" man-made religions. One great reality of the universe and life is that no one knows if there is or is not an afterlife/continuation of our consciousness of existence after our body dies. This allows us to have true unconditional love of The Supreme Intelligence/God which the "revealed" religions make impossible to have for their followers, as is obvious by this quote, which teaches people to fear God, and which the anonymous author of the Gospel of Luke attributed to Jesus at Luke 12:5,
"But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him."
In The Age of Reason, The Complete Edition, Thomas Paine made it clear Deists reject the teaching attributed to Jesus to fear God and that Deists really do have unconditional love of The Supreme Intelligence/God when he wrote,
"I consider myself in the hands of my Creator, and that He* will dispose of me after this life consistently with His justice and goodness. I leave all these matters to Him, as my Creator and friend, and I hold it to be presumption in man to make an article of faith as to what the Creator will do with us hereafter."
Personally, this very real Deistic trust in The Supreme Intelligence/God and Deistic peace of mind are strongly reinforced every time I see a beautiful sunrise or sunset or an amazing and inspiring star-filled night sky or think about the wonderful and fascinating way living cells are designed and work.
All active Deists can further their Deistic peace of mind with this statement from Thomas Paine. It's found in the preface to the second part of The Age of Reason. In it, Paine writes that about two months prior to the fall of Robespierre, when Paine was imprisoned in the French prison, Luxembourg, and was seriously ill and close to death he remembered that he had written the first part of The Age of Reason. Paine wrote,
"About two months before this event I was seized with a fever, that in its progress had every symptom of becoming mortal, and from the effects of which I am not recovered. It was then that I remembered with renewed satisfaction, and congratulated myself most sincerely, on having written the former part of “The Age of Reason.” I had then but little expectation of surviving, and those about me had less. I know, therefore, by experience, the conscientious trial of my own principles."
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*Thomas Paine, and most Deists, use the pronoun "He"/masculine pronouns in relation to The Supreme Intelligence/God for convenience. Paine believed The Supreme Intelligence/God to be "a first cause eternally existing, of a nature totally different to any material existence we know of, and by the power of which all things exist; and this first cause man calls God."
If there is, in particular, no justice working itself out in a future life then for myself I cannot be any more excited about the possible reality of God than about the existence or possible existence of any physical object in the universe.
I detail my thoughts and feelings regarding life after this present life, and possible evidence, in Appendix 2, which is linked to as a PDF file in my write-up under Why Deism: Nominal Christian Upbringing to Serious Christian, etc.
"This (that supposedly one knows if there is an afterlife) allows us to have true unconditional love of The Supreme Intelligence/God."
For myself I cannot be indifferent or nonchalant about the possibility of there being no life after this present life, and most especially there being no JUSTICE for those receiving the bad breaks or who are victims of injustice in this present life, such as the genocide victims in Gaza, and no reckoning or accountability for those who do very bad things, like neocons and war profiteers, or "Health" CEO's who profit from denying people very badly needed claims.
I have never myself had any personal experience which confirms or indicates for me the reality of a life after this present life so I do not share Victor Zammit's certainty. I am between 2 and 3 on Richard Dawkins' scale of belief: 1 = strong believer, and 7 = strong disbeliever. However such possible evidence definitely ought to be looked at, according to the Socratic Principle to follow the evidence where it leads!
"One great reality of the universe and life is that no one knows if there is or is not an afterlife/continuation of our consciousness of existence after our body dies."
Actually it is quite possible that that might not be true. There is much of what looks very much like possible evidence for the afterlife on the internet. A good place to start is the web site by the retired Australian attorney Victor Zammit: He makes the bold claim that "there is, without any doubt whatsoever, objective, repeatable, evidence for the existence of the afterlife", and has an extensive web site detailing such possible evidence.
https://victorzammit.com/